Grizzlies brace for return of Spurs' Manu Ginobili for Game 2

San Antonio hopes he's ready to play

The San Antonio Spurs are a better team with Manu Ginobili at the helm. He missed the first game against the Grizzlies with an injury, and is uncertain tonight.

Eric Gay/Associated Press

SAN ANTONIO -- Grizzlies assistant coach Damon Stoudamire spent the last 31 games of his 13-year NBA career as a member of the San Antonio Spurs at the end of the 2007-08 season.

His final pro stop was just long enough for him to get a clear understanding of the talent possessed by teammate Manu Ginobili.

"One night against Cleveland and LeBron James, he had 46 points (on 15-of-20 field goals, including 8-of-11 threes) and it was the easiest 46 points I'd ever seen," Stoudamire said. "Manu just has so many different ways to get it done."

That's why Spurs coach Gregg Popovich hopes he'll have a healthy Ginobili back in the lineup at 7:30 tonight in the AT&T Center for Game 2 when the Spurs try to even the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series.

Memphis won Sunday's opener, 101-98, with Ginobili missing the game. The 6-6 left-handed guard, an eight-year veteran from Argentina, is healing a sprained right elbow. It's an injury he sustained in a regular season-closing loss against Phoenix a week ago.

At Monday's practice, Popovich said he was preparing for Game 2 just like he prepared for Game 1 -- as if Ginobili would not play.

On Tuesday after his team's practice, Griz coach Lionel Hollins also said he's preparing for Game 2 as he did for Game 1 -- as if Ginobili would play -- because he knows Ginobili's value to his team.

"Having him in the lineup allows (point guard) Tony Parker to go to the wing and Manu handles the ball in pick-and-rolls," Hollins said. "He can attack the basket and score, or throw back out to Tony, who can take it to the rim like a jet. Manu has become a better three-pointer shooter and he makes better decisions than he did when he first came in the league."

Ginobili, who's averaging 17.3 points, the second-highest total of his career, has 34 20-point plus games this season. Because he's improved as a outside shooter and is a career 83.4 percent free throw marksman, he's capable of scoring 30 in a blink.

He can be very hot, as he was scoring a season-high 35 points on Feb. 27 here in a 95-88 victory over the Grizzlies. He can be chilly, such as averaging 5.5 points in the two losses vs. the Griz this year, including a March 27 meeting in FedEx Forum in which he played just more than 19 minutes after sustaining a bruised thigh.

The fact that Ginobili has little regard for his body -- his teammates call him "El Contusion" -- is the reason this is the fourth straight year he has entered the playoffs injured, or been hurt in the first round.

It's not that he's fragile, but rather he thinks he weighs 235 pounds rather than just 205. How else can you explain him constantly getting into the lane, bouncing off defenders and throwing up drives while launching himself horizontally?

"Ginobili is smart and crafty and left-handed like me," said Griz forward Zach Randolph, someone who also bases his game on intelligence and guile. "When Ginobili is on the floor, the Spurs are a better team. He gets it done for them, and sometimes you wonder how he makes some of the shots he does."

If Ginobili plays tonight, he'll be initially guarded by Griz guard Tony Allen, according to Hollins. But if the Spurs begin using Ginobili as the primary ball-handler in pick-and-rolls, then point guard Mike Conley will take the assignment.

"Manu does just about everything well," Conley said, "but he's deadly when he gets in the paint. He has some of the best body control in the league. He can go full speed, stop on a dime, take a one-two step, go off his wrong leg and score using either hand in any direction."